


how long must i wait

by challaudaku



Series: never mind your bleeding heart [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 12:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14934624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/challaudaku/pseuds/challaudaku
Summary: fred and angelina and falling in love but never being sure enough to try [fred's pov]





	how long must i wait

**Author's Note:**

> 2301 words, by google docs

Fred's born with Angelina scrawled on his arm in big letters and so he resolves to only wear long sleeves. What if, he reasons, someone named Angelina sees his arm and thinks that she's his soulmate, but  _he's_ not  _hers_?

Besides, it'll be easier for his mother to tell George and him apart. Well, only if George doesn't wears long sleeves, too.

Fred gives George some long sleeved shirts.

…

George's tattoo starts to fade. George has Seamus scribbled onto his collarbone and it was  _definitely_  much darker against his skin yesterday and they're freaking out. It's as if George's soulmate is slipping away from this world.

Fred didn't even know that was possible, but he's scared that his tattoo, his Angelina, will start fading, too. He doesn't know Angelina yet, but he still cares about her so much is makes his throat hurt.

It doesn't fade and he breathes and he forgets about it.

…

He introduced himself to her first. He didn't even mean to, but there were two open seats on either side of her, so he and George filled them, introducing themselves.

When she says, "Hi, I'm Angelina Johnson," he can feel his face go red as George coughs.

Fred  _swears_ , if George messes this up for him, he will be  _murdered_.

"That's a nice name," he says instead, smiling. She doesn't see George's smirk from behind her.

…

Fred is pretty certain that Angelina is dating Lee, but he doesn't want to confront either of them about it.

For starters, what if Angelina  _isn't_  his soulmate? There's probably more than one Angelina in the world. It can't be  _that_ unique of a name. If Fred broke up their relationship and he isn't Angelina's soulmate, well, that would  _suck_. They might not even be compatible and he would've broken up his best friend's relationship.

And also, there's the fact that, though Fred hasn't been vocal on the whole 'soulmate' thing, Lee's soulmate is supposed to be Angelina. He has Angelina written along the side of his body and Fred's stomach drops just thinking about it.

And then Lee comes to Fred with tears in his eyes and his face red and—

"Angelina broke up with me."

Fred blinks and pops his ears. He probably misheard. Why would Angelina break up with Lee? Unless  _her_  soulmate isn't Lee, which means that it could be—

"Why?" Fred asks. He's trying not grin, he  _really_  is, but he's not sure how good of a job he's doing.

"I don't know," Lee tells him, his voice barely above a whisper. Fred pats Lee on the shoulder while pulling up his sleeve at the same time; he doesn't want Lee to know that he is  _definitely_ going to try Angelina next. Even he knows that it would be a  _douche_  move to do that.

"There are other Angelinas in the world, mate," Fred says, telling Lee the same thing he's told himself so many times. Lee nods, taking a deep breath. "It's a big world."

Lee's quiet for another second before looking up.

"I'm not going to give up, though."

Fred raises his eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" he asks. He knows  _exactly_  what Lee means but he's hoping that he's wrong.

"I'm not going to give up on Angelina," Lee says, a determined look on his face. Fred forces a smile.

"That's… great."

…

"Wow, great Fred."

Fred looks up from his reflection to see Lee enter the room, a frown on his face.

"What is?" Fred says. He's aware of his hands shaking but he can't help it; he's too nervous. He finally got the courage to ask Angelina on a date and now he doesn't know if he can go through with it.

 _His soulmate_.

"You're bringing Angelina to the ball?" Lee asks and his words slap Fred. Maybe he forgot about Lee's 'Quest to Angelina' but, as much as he hates himself for it, he doesn't care. Angelina is supposed to be  _his_. It's written on his skin.

 _You could be wrong,_ a small part of him says. He tries to push it down, though.

"Yes," Fred says, wincing at the expression on Lee's face, as if Fred personally betrayed him. Lee's shoulders slump, like he's exhausted and it's a few seconds before he looks back up.

"Well, I hope you get the girl then, mate."

…

Fred's on top of the moon. He's gone farther than the top of the world and he's on top of the moon. Angelina.  _Angelina_. Who he's  _dancing_  with. Angelina.

"Hey, I have something to tell you," she says, pausing their dancing. Fred nods, but then realises that her voice sounds a little bit dry. Idiot. He should've gotten them drinks.

"One second," he says with a smile. "I'm going to get us more butterbeer."

He grabs a couple of bottles and makes his way back to Angelina, looking around the room. He sees Ron and Harry sitting off to the side, Ginny dancing with Neville, and George— _finally_ —talking to Seamus on the other side of the room. He feels  _good_  and bubbly. Maybe he should just come out and tell Angelina that she's his soulmate.

"What were you saying?" Fred asks as he approaches her again. She opens her mouth, about to say something, but then hesitates, looking at something. Fred follows her eyes to his arm. His sleeve is pushed up. He quickly pushes back down; this is  _not_  how he wanted to have this conversation.

"Nothing, nevermind," she says, giving him a smile. Fred raises an eyebrow, his mind racing. Was she just about to tell him that they weren't meant to be because Fred's not her soulmate? Or maybe she was going to tell Fred that they were soulmates? Or maybe Fred's just getting too caught up in soulmates.

"Want to dance some more?" he asks instead. He could use a good dance, but Angelina gives him a little smile instead. It doesn't look good.

"I'm going to head out, actually, Fred. Thanks for tonight, though."

Fred hearts plummets. It's not even in his chest anymore. It fell, deep into his stomach.

He should've told her.

…

Fred's going to miss Angelina. He realises that with a jolt when him and George are knee-deep in planning. He supposes he sighs too loudly because George looks up with a frown.

"What?" he asks, giving Fred a look of concern.

"I can't do this," Fred says, sinking down in his chair. How is he supposed to leave this all behind? It's probably harder for George; he's leaving Seamus at Hogwarts. At least Angelina is leaving too, at the end of the year.

"You're going insane," George tells him, turning back to their papers.

"Probably," Fred agrees. He stands up, a crazy idea blooming in his head. "I'm going to go see Angelina."

" _Oh_ ," George says, realisation dawning onto his face. " _That's_  what this is about." George looks back up and Fred nods sadly. "Go get her."

It doesn't take long to find her; she's still sitting in the common room, papers spread out around her. Between Quidditch and N.E.W.T.s, Fred thinks that Angelina is stressing herself out too much. To be fair, Fred isn't doing either.

"Hey, Ange," he says, sitting down in the chair next to her. He doesn't know what to say. Is he actually going to tell her, right here, right now? She looks up at him, bags under her eyes, but she seems to relax when she sees that it's just Fred. That's a good sign, right?

"Hey," she whispers, giving her a strained smile. And then he can't help himself and he leans in and—

"Oh," Angelina says, when she pulls away from him. Fred's lips are tingling with the taste of  _Angelina_  and Angelina looks more awake, blinking fast.

"We're leaving Hogwarts," Fred blurts out, looking for some reason to explain why he kissed her and that's the reason, isn't it? That he's leaving and he's scared that he'll never see her again.  _Terrified_  that he'll never see her again.

"Leaving Hogwarts?" she echoes, questions etched on her face that Fred can't quite read.

"George and I. We're leaving. Soon."

The hurt on Angelina's face hurts Fred,  _tears_  him apart, but he doesn't know what to say.

He could tell her, of course, that she's his soulmate, but then he's going to want to  _stay_  with her. He and George have spent  _weeks_  planning. He can't abandoned him now, no matter how much he wants to be with Angelina. Besides, he's not even sure if she even likes him  _like that_.

"You're leaving," she repeats. "Am I going to see you again?"

Fred doesn't know how to respond.  _Will_  she?

"We're opening a shop on Diagon Alley," he tells her. "Come and visit and hopefully you will."

Angelina nods, still blinking. "Hopefully."

…

The shop is lonely. The shop is lonely because Fred's the only one working there. George's soulmate tattoo started to fade and George, now actually  _knowing_  Seamus has worried himself to the point where George is actually sick. So Fred's the only one working in the shop but he gets it, he really does—he's worried about everyone at Hogwarts and his  _soulmate_  isn't even there.

He doesn't even know where his soulmate it. Somewhere happy, he hopes.

The bell on the door rings and Fred straightens up. There's not many customers nowadays so he need to gets as much as he can from anyone coming in. He looks at the person who just walked in and—

So  _that's_  where his soulmate is. Right in front of him.

"Angelina," he says, clearing his throat. There's a lump there. She looks even more pretty. Or maybe absence just made his heart grow fonder.

"Fred," she says smiling. And then, so quick that Fred's brain doesn't even fully register it happening, Angelina is next to him and has her hands on his face and their kissing.

"You came and visited," Fred notes, pulling away. They're in the middle of a war. He shouldn't be thinking about her, but now that's all he can think of, like a mantra echoing in his head:  _Angelina. Angelina. Angelina. Angelina. Angelina._

"How could I stay away?" she asks, a smirk on her face.

"Do you—?" Fred starts, not sure what he's doing. "Do you want to go upstairs?"

Angelina raises an eyebrow. "Lead the way."

…

Fred finally has her in his bed and it's…

Awkward.

He's not sure what he wants to  _do_. He's not sure what she wants to do, either, and it's probably important that he asks her because  _consent_ , but if she asks him the same question he has no answer. He'd prefer to keep his clothes on because he's  _definitely_ not ready to have the whole 'oh, you're probably my soulmate' talk with her, even though he's pretty sure that she wouldn't be with him if he wasn't her soulmate, too.

"You know, soulmate tattoos can fade," he says, randomly, thinking about his brother, worrying about Seamus all the time. His brother's tattoo is  _so close_  to gone because Seamus is  _so close_  to being gone, just like when they were younger and it's making George want to tear his hair out because they don't know for sure what's happening at Hogwarts.

"Really?" Angelina asks. It's dark, but they're so close that Fred can see her raise a single eyebrow, just a tiny bit.

"Yeah. Apparently if you soulmate dies, or is near death, it could disappear. Seamus, when he was younger was almost killed by his dad. George's tattoo nearly faded. We had no idea what was going on, but it eventually came back, stronger and darker. Now, though—" Fred stops speaking because he has  _no idea_  where he's going with this story. Why is he even telling Angelina this story? It's Seamus and George's, not his.

"Interesting."

Fred reaches out a hand and gingerly touches her upper arm. He doesn't know what he's doing. His thoughts are going so fast that he can barely process them. They're all just a big mess of:  _oh my god I'm with Angelina and we might do_ it  _and are we actually going to do it and am I ready to do it and—_

"Do you—?" Angelina asks, her breath hitting his nose as he moves himself slightly closer. It smells minty, as if she had just brushed her teeth.

"Only if you—" Fred responds, cutting himself off. He can't make himself say the words. His heart is beating so fast, though, that he's certain that she can hear it and she knows what he means.

"I do," she says, her voice low and Fred closes the distance between them, making their lips touch and they've kissed before but they've never  _kissed_ , Fred realises. His heart continues to beat too fast and he's pretty sure that it's about to burst.

He only pulls away when his pocket grows unusually warm. Fumbling, he draws out the tiny galleon, back from Dumbledore's army. He's never bothered to take it out of his pockets, carrying it around  _just in case_. There's a small message sent through it and his heart almost stops.

"What is it?" Angelina asks, peering at him. Fred sits up and grabs his wand from the floor, turning on the lights with a flick. "Is that—?" she asks, but Fred isn't looking at her. He's still staring at the message, hoping it isn't true.

"The battle is starting. Get changed. We need to go to Hogwarts."

…

Fred sees her getting changed, right before they leave. He sees Fred traced on her hip and he almost wants to say something but he leaves it alone; they need to fight a  _war_.

After all, there'll be all the time in the world after they win.


End file.
